Display shelf planning



March 12, 1963 R. c. BLAND 3,030,664

I DISPLAY SHELF PLANNING Filed March 27, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VENTOR.

March 12, 1963 R. c. BLAND DISPLAY SHELF PLANNING 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledMarch 27, 1961 INVENTOR.

United States 3,080,664 DIfiPLAY SHELF PLANNING Robert C. Bland, BattieCreek, Mich, assignor to Kellogg Company, Battle Creek, Mich, acorporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 27, 1961, Ser. No. 98,510

I 1 Claim. (CI. 35-53) matter of taste personal to him. Heretofore, thegrocer could conduct his experiments only by repeated manipulation ofsubstantial quantities of the goods themselves,

which obviously would consume considerable time, energy and patience.Also, where goods may be stored and/ or displayed at will on shelves oron racks, the grocer would -be put to considerable expense just inprocuring supplies necessary for his experimentation. And all of thisexperimentation had to be carried out at night and on holidays to avoidconflict with his customers.

The object of this invention is to provide a convenient, economical andpractical solution to the stated problems by providing a smallexperimentation kit whereby grocers and other merchants may experimentwith shelf arrangements and merchandise displays in the privacy of their-ofiices or homes and/ or during store hours by the simple expedient ofselectively arranging and rearranging relative minute reproductions oftheir merchandise.

It is a specific object of this invention to accommodate advanceplanning of merchandise displays by the simple procedure of placing on asmall manipulatable board relatively minute fiat reproductions of atleast one face of each article to be displayed, and detachably engagingthe reproductions with the board in positions alined with horizontallines and/ or storage racks reproduced on the board thereby to simulatethe placing of articles on shelves or in racks.

Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus for the statedpurpose comprising a small manipulatable board having horizontal linesand/or relatively minute reproductions of storage racks thereon, and aplurality of relatively minute fiat reproductions of at least oneface-of the articles of merchandise to be displayed, the board and/orthe reproductions having means thereon for holding the reproductions inselected positions on the board.

A further object of the invention is to provide apparatus as aforesaidwherein the board and the reproductions have cooperable ridges on theopposed faces thereof for positioning the reproductions in predeterminedrelation to lines on the board to simultate the placing of articles onshelves.

A still further object of the invention is to embody the apparatus in aform convenient for use by salesmen, so that salesmen may carry theapparatus from store to store and assist merchants in selection ofdesirable shelf arrangements.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent inthe following detailed description.

Now, in order to acquaint those skilled in the art with the manner ofpracticing the method of my invention, and of making and using theapparatus of my invention,

.nealed steel. halves of the case are of identical construction.

I shall describe, in connection with the accompanying drawings, apreferred embodiment of the apparatus and preferred manners of makingand using the same.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of theapparatus of my invention, wherein the above described planning kit isincorporated in a conveniently carried suitcase, attache case, or thelike;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the case of FIG- URE 1 opened for use;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary vertical section of the opened case;

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the board forming part of the planning kit;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary vertical section of the board on an enlargedscale, the view showing the cooperation between the board and areproduction; and

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of a reproduction of an article ofmerchandise.

Referring now to the drawings, I have shown the preferred embodiment ofmy apparatus incorporated in a case comprised of two hingedly connectedhalves, namely an upper half 10 and a lower half 12, at least one halfhaving a carrying handle I4 and the two halves having cooperating clasps16 at the edges thereof opposite their hinged edges. The two halves arepreferably substantially identical, and description of the lower halfwill suffice for both. As shown, the lower half 12 of the case iscomprised of a rectangular frame 18 suitably formed in a conventionalmanner of four pieces of wood each of L-shape in cross-section. Securedto the interior ledge formed by the legs of the L-shaped pieces is arigid fiat backing sheet 20, such as a sheet of Masonite or the like,and secured to the inner surface of this is a planning board 22.Suitably, both the backing sheet and the board 22 may be held in theframe by molding strips 24. In the preferred embodiment of theinvention, the board 22 comprises a thin sheet of galvanized an- To theextent thus far described, the two may be provided to define horizontallines representative of shelves. I also prefer that whatever means beemployed to represent the shelves, the same be of such nature as todefine horizontal ridges projecting forwardly from the surface of theboard and facing toward the top thereof, as indicated at 28 in FIGURE 5.In addition,

vertical strips 30 may be employed to define margins to a display, andvertical and/or horizontal lines 32 may be printed or otherwise formedon the board to assist in guidance of the user. Also, the vertical lines32 may be numbered as shown to facilitate correlation of the display tothe actual shelf arrangement of the user. In the preferred embodiment ofthe invention, these results are achieved and a particularly attractivedisplay is provided by covering the face of the planning board with agraphically lined and numbered plastic sheath.

The display pieces provided by the present invention are flat relativelyminute reproductions, preferably photographic reproductions, of at leastone face of each article of merchandise to be displayed. For example, Ihave shown a display piece 34 in FIGURE 6 comprising a photographicreproduction of the front face of one box of dry cereal and the endfaces of a plurality of like boxes stacked horizontally on top of theone box. If desired, the reproduction could be of just the front face ofone box, just the side face of one box, just the end face of one box orthe end faces of a plurality of boxes, combinations of these and so on.To the back of each reproduction I secure attaching means to facilitatenonslip detachable mounting of the reproductions on the board. In thepreferred embodiment of the invention, the attaching means comprises atleast one and preferably two small permanent magnets 36 which aresecured to the reproduction by two-sided pressure-sensitive tape.

In use, the two magnets can readily be engaged with the magneticallypermeable board 22, whereby the reproduction is detachably held inselected position on the board. Also, the magnets 36 are preferablyrectangular and have a downwardly facing horizontal edge 38, thereby todefine a ridge opposed to the ridge 2S defined by the upper edge of eachof the strips 26. Thus, each reproduction can conveniently be located onthe board in predetermined relation to a respective strip simply bysliding the lower edge of the lower magnet into engagement with theupper edge of the respective strip. When a particular reproduction isnot in use, it can conveniently be stored by adhering it magnetically tothe board 22 in the upper half of the case, and/or by adhering it to thesurface of a lower layer of magnetically attached reproductions. In thismanner, substantially an entire store inventory could be represented bythe contents of a single case.

To facilitate use of the device, I prefer to provide means for retainingthe planning board in an inclined readily accessible and viewableplanning position. To this end, I provide two legs 40 for the case, eachbeing of generally trapezoidal form and suitably formed of wood. Asshown particularly in FIGURE 3, each inclined edge of each leg isprovided with two felt pads impregnated with pressuresensitive adhesivewhereby the upper end of each leg may be detachably secured to the lowersurface of the sheet in the lower half of the case, and the lower end ofeach leg may be detachably adhered to a supporting surface, such as adesk, to retain the case in fixed position for manipulation of thereproductions 34. The hinges provided for the case are preferably of thefixed-stop support type to hold the upper half of the case substantiallyvertical when the case is set-up for use, whereby the storedreproductions 34 are exposed to the users view for convenient selectionfrom the inventory supply, as shown in FIGURE 3. When the case is not inuse, the legs 40 are readily moved for storage within the case, orwithin the exterior recess defined by each of the frames 18, whereby thelegs are transportable with the case. To facilitate this latter result,each leg may also have pressure-sensitive adhesive pads (not shown) onone of it side surfaces.

With the apparatus above described, a store owner can quickly and easilymake plans for the arrangement and storage of his wares, and salesmenare afforded means whereby they can perform a valuable service for theircustomers and at the same time convince the proprietor of anadvantageous display of the salesmens products. Also, once anarrangement has been set-up, it can be photographed to reveal exactlythe ultimate shelf arrangement. In addition, I prefer to arrange thestrips 26 in a manner indicative of two sets of shelving, whereby anarrangement may be made on the upper set and another can be made on thelower set to compare the effectiveness of the two. Thus, it is apparentthat all of the objects and advantages of the invention have been shownherein to be attained in a convenient, economical and practical manner.

While I have shown and described what I regard to be the preferredpractice of the method of my invention, and the preferred embodiment ofthe apparatus of my invention, it will be appreciated that variouschanges, rearrangements and modifications may be made therein withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention, as defined by the appendedclaim.

I claim:

Apparatus for planning display shelf arrangements comprising a suitcaseincluding two hingedly connected substantially identical halves eachcomprised of a rectangular frame and a magnetically permeable boardmounted within the frame intermediate the faces of the frame, detachablelegs engageable with the outer surface of the board of one of saidhalves within the interior of the frame thereof and adjacent the hingedside of the one half for sustaining said one half in an inclinedposition with the hinged side thereof in elevated position, said legshaving adhesive pads on the ends thereof for detachably afiixing thesame to said board and a supporting surface, fixed stop hinges hingedlyconnecting said halves and for retaining the other of said halves in agenerally vertical upwardly extending position when said one half is inits inclined position, a graphically lined plastic sheath on the innersurface of the board of said one half graphically depicting two sets ofshelving parallel to the hinged sides of said halves, adhesive tapeadhered to said sheath parallel to the hinged sides of said halves andrepresenting horizontal shelves, a plurality of relatively minute flatrectangular reproductions of at least one face of the articles to bedisplayed, said reproductions and the graphic depiction of shelvingbeing to the same scale, and at least one horizontal disposed permanentrectangular magnet on the back of each of said reproductions disposedparallel to its edges for detachably afiixing the same selectively tothe board of said other half as an inventory supply and to the board ofsaid one half as part of a display, the magnet on each reproductionbeing engageable with the board to detachably affix the reproduction tothe board and being engageable at its lower edge with the upper edge ofthe adhesive tape to locate the reproduction on the board relative to adepicted shelf.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,440,944 Tarr I an. 2, 1923 1,579,867 Kellogg April 6, 1926 1,694,639Brown Dec. 11, 1928 2,686,980 Carter Aug. 24, 1954 2,748,499 Shafer June5, 1956 2,878,586 Ohlsson Mar. 24, 1959 2,941,314 Schwieger June 21,1960

